Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating gasket pads that closely wrap and seal both ends of a drum of a laundry drier or a variety of driers and a gasket pad fabricated by the same apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a drier for drying laundry has a drum disposed in the inner space thereof in order to dry washed laundry. Hot wind is blown to the interior of the drum to dry the washed laundry. Here, gasket pads are disposed on both ends of the drum in order to prevent the hot wind supplied to the drum from leaking externally.
The drier is an apparatus automatically drying washed, wet laundry. The drier includes a rotatable drum disposed within a body cabinet, a driving unit rotating the drum, a front support and a rear support defining a drying space by blocking the front part and the rear part of the drum and supporting the front end and the rear end of the drum, and a heater creating hot and dry wind. With this configuration, the drier automatically dries washed, wet clothes or the like.
A gasket pad formed of felt is disposed between the front support and the drum or between the rear support and the drum in order to prevent hot wind from leaking.
Gasket pads are bonded to the front end and the rear end of the drum with an adhesive while wrapping the outer circumferences of the front end and the rear end. When exposed to hot wind for a prolonged period, such a gasket pad may be separated from the drum or may stretch, whereby sealing ability is reduced.
In addition, since both ends of the pad are sewn in a folded position, stepped portions are formed. The stepped portions reduce sealing ability, which is problematic.
In order to overcome this problem, the applicant has been fabricating drum-sealing gasket pads as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 1073031, granted to the applicant. However, the fabrication of gasket pads is performed by manual operations except for the sewing operation, and the operation of cutting gasket pads and the operation of sewing gasket pads are separately performed. These features increase labor costs. In addition, the quality of a product is dependent on the skill of a worker since the fabrication is manually performed.
The information disclosed in the Background of the Invention section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or as any form of suggestion that this information forms a prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.